New car features
- Thread starter Jw60
- Start date
ITLKSEZ
Watching a toddler play w/a loaded gun
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2015
I read your post as, “I have something to say as I drop off the planet.”
I was right there with you.
That seems like a horrible safety issue in a panic situation. At least it’s still an opt-in feature. But so is traction control on my ‘95 850, and look where we are now; you can’t find a car without it, and you can’t shut it off. A sign of things to come, I’m sure.
I was right there with you.
That seems like a horrible safety issue in a panic situation. At least it’s still an opt-in feature. But so is traction control on my ‘95 850, and look where we are now; you can’t find a car without it, and you can’t shut it off. A sign of things to come, I’m sure.
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- Joined
- Aug 13, 2006
Any controls, safety or otherwise, may not be predictable if managed by a computer. There are too many quirks and electronic failure points.
My 2012 Ram may, or may not, allow the passenger window control to work. Warranty replaced the switch but no help.
My 2005 Taurus might let the interior light come on when a door is opened, but not always. It's also finicky with all window controls.
I cringe when I see that everything is controlled by the digital display on my 2022 Wrangler...that's the only reason I bought a 10-year extended warranty for that vehicle (and yes it covers the electronic dash).
My 2012 Ram may, or may not, allow the passenger window control to work. Warranty replaced the switch but no help.
My 2005 Taurus might let the interior light come on when a door is opened, but not always. It's also finicky with all window controls.
I cringe when I see that everything is controlled by the digital display on my 2022 Wrangler...that's the only reason I bought a 10-year extended warranty for that vehicle (and yes it covers the electronic dash).
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2015
My wife wants a new car. She won't buy one because of all the gimmicky electronics that are on them now.
Cars get smarter so people can get dumber.
Cars get smarter so people can get dumber.
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2006
Alright… first off, why do I need to program my car to open or not open a door with all these steps? Isn’t it already enough for child safety locks and a button next to the door lock?
Bloat. Does clippy in hologram version pop up on th dash like a plastic bobblehead to give me pointers?
If you need this nonsense in your car or find it less than infuriating, please just take public mass transit, an uber, walk or just bury yourself in your back yard.. I guess you probably don’t know how to operate a shovel, so that most likely is a bridge too far..
Our capacity to accept nonsense seems to be limitless.
Bloat. Does clippy in hologram version pop up on th dash like a plastic bobblehead to give me pointers?
If you need this nonsense in your car or find it less than infuriating, please just take public mass transit, an uber, walk or just bury yourself in your back yard.. I guess you probably don’t know how to operate a shovel, so that most likely is a bridge too far..
Our capacity to accept nonsense seems to be limitless.
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2008
One thing it does not mention is that all of these settings must be repeated on all driver profiles. Each driver profile has the seat memory for that driver. Soo driver one: my wife, driver 2 myself, and guest all had to be individually set to be consistent. No option to save to all profiles.
cruise control is just as bad. I did get it to hold speed once but i can’t repeat it. it wants to set a speed limiter and not actually hold a speed.
This is the only minivan out there that does not have a 3.6 and ticking oil cooler. Hybrid or cvt drivetrain. Just a cheap people mover that is convenient to use....
Anyway, yes it has the interior child locks and i can shut off this feature. An adult can reach the door controls above the rearview mirror if needed (power sliding doors). Or use the key fob, or the phone app or roll down the window and push the button on the outside.
cruise control is just as bad. I did get it to hold speed once but i can’t repeat it. it wants to set a speed limiter and not actually hold a speed.
This is the only minivan out there that does not have a 3.6 and ticking oil cooler. Hybrid or cvt drivetrain. Just a cheap people mover that is convenient to use....
Anyway, yes it has the interior child locks and i can shut off this feature. An adult can reach the door controls above the rearview mirror if needed (power sliding doors). Or use the key fob, or the phone app or roll down the window and push the button on the outside.
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- Joined
- Nov 22, 2003
Being unable to override a lock is a big no-no. I see, unfortunately, a cause for a lawsuite in the future 
Also, why is KLM building cars?
And how do you avoid stall when the stick shaker starts going?
Enquing Minds Want To Know...
Also, why is KLM building cars?
And how do you avoid stall when the stick shaker starts going?
Enquing Minds Want To Know...
Steve's 70-5
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2009
Can an option be when ordering a new car, a “dumb version”. Do not need all the computer driven accessories. When I got my new Gladator, told the sales man. I wanted heated seat and steering wheel. Remote start, any color but black
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2008
Best option I see for that is to buy through a fleet somehow. I dug into the flex and expedition and with some work and higher trim option wire harnesses you could get there. But you risked confusing the pcm and owning a brick on wheels.
I really want to add the fx4 and hd towing to my expedition max. They only offered it for one year.
fr8dog61
Member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2023
Push HARD is Boeing’s procedure. ATR too.Being unable to override a lock is a big no-no. I see, unfortunately, a cause for a lawsuite in the future
Also, why is KLM building cars?
And how do you avoid stall when the stick shaker starts going?
Enquing Minds Want To Know...
PeteL
If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement...
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- Aug 3, 2003
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2008
I don't remember if i mentioned this or not but the radio and hvac shair touch screen controls on a timerbar sort of assembly. You have to look at what mode the controls are on, toggle between modes, then look at what you are pressing to turn the fan speed up or defrost on.
Our expedition is a good compromise. The daily controls all have physical buttons and knobs but the rear hvac is physical in the 2nd row and buried in the front infotainment (there is a physical short-cut button)
PeteL
If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement...
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- Joined
- Aug 3, 2003
I love my '34 Ford pickup. There is a turn-knob for the headlights, a button for the horn, and a round thing that tells me how fast I'm going. That has always been sufficient - and still an enormous pleasure to drive.
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2006
Wrangler JLs & JTs are the same way.
Fortunately, they still have a mechanical door release on the inside and out.
Tiffany (my other half) bought a new VW GTI back in October. She got the top range of that model. I still haven’t driven it yet. We kept her “old” 2017 GTI, just in case.
The new one might as well be a mobile video game. The dash in front of the steering wheel is a screen that can be programed with 4 or 5 configurations, showing digital or analog “ gauges”, but still a screen. There is also a heads-up display on the windshield glass. Then there is the big touch screen in the center of the dash, just low enough to not block visibility. This screen controls almost everything; radio (station, volume, satellite, etc), all ventilation controls including temp, fan speed (usually automatic), heated or vented seats, heated steering wheel, sunroof, car service modes, including oil level (no dipstick!), and about every other function of the car. Nothing is Intuitive. Of course, there is push button start/stop. There is no “shifter”, but instead near the stop/start button, is a toggle switch for drive, neutral, and reverse. Get this! Toggle toward the front gets you “reverse”, and toggle rearward gets you “drive”. Just the opposite of being logical! Yes, there are paddle shifters on the back of the steering wheel, if you want to shift manually. The car is a manual 6 speed, but computer shifted. There about 5 or 6 “modes” from economy to sport, including custom.
VW stopped production of the Golf/GTI back in early Spring last year for the ‘25 model year. One of their “new” features were all the steering wheel controls (about 16 or 18) were smooth touch pads on the spokes. No buttons, just pictures and arrows. You had to take yours eyes off the road to to see where to touch. They were so sensitive, brushing long sleeves while turning would change the radio to another station, or crank the volume to full quiet or loud, or any number of other accidental functions.
They stopped production and went back to the drawing board to put tactile buttons back on the steering wheel to continue ‘25 production back in mid/late summer.
I haven’t figured out how to save my seat and steering positions into the car’s memory yet. This car has way too many distractions, and you need a degree in video gaming to drive it. Tiffany is operating it OK, but its been a learning curve. She has spent hours sitting in the car figuring out/setting the controls, or looking up on-line for shortcuts to programming it.
Cars shouldn’t be this complex! I’m not even sure if I can change the oil in this thing.
The new one might as well be a mobile video game. The dash in front of the steering wheel is a screen that can be programed with 4 or 5 configurations, showing digital or analog “ gauges”, but still a screen. There is also a heads-up display on the windshield glass. Then there is the big touch screen in the center of the dash, just low enough to not block visibility. This screen controls almost everything; radio (station, volume, satellite, etc), all ventilation controls including temp, fan speed (usually automatic), heated or vented seats, heated steering wheel, sunroof, car service modes, including oil level (no dipstick!), and about every other function of the car. Nothing is Intuitive. Of course, there is push button start/stop. There is no “shifter”, but instead near the stop/start button, is a toggle switch for drive, neutral, and reverse. Get this! Toggle toward the front gets you “reverse”, and toggle rearward gets you “drive”. Just the opposite of being logical! Yes, there are paddle shifters on the back of the steering wheel, if you want to shift manually. The car is a manual 6 speed, but computer shifted. There about 5 or 6 “modes” from economy to sport, including custom.
VW stopped production of the Golf/GTI back in early Spring last year for the ‘25 model year. One of their “new” features were all the steering wheel controls (about 16 or 18) were smooth touch pads on the spokes. No buttons, just pictures and arrows. You had to take yours eyes off the road to to see where to touch. They were so sensitive, brushing long sleeves while turning would change the radio to another station, or crank the volume to full quiet or loud, or any number of other accidental functions.
They stopped production and went back to the drawing board to put tactile buttons back on the steering wheel to continue ‘25 production back in mid/late summer.
I haven’t figured out how to save my seat and steering positions into the car’s memory yet. This car has way too many distractions, and you need a degree in video gaming to drive it. Tiffany is operating it OK, but its been a learning curve. She has spent hours sitting in the car figuring out/setting the controls, or looking up on-line for shortcuts to programming it.
Cars shouldn’t be this complex! I’m not even sure if I can change the oil in this thing.
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2008
On ours your driver profile saves the seat position. You need to set-up a driver on the dash then save the seat position to it.
I did change my dash to be a different color for each mode. This is a terrible dash picture:
I need to figure out where the add-on auto mirror gets it's power so I can power the dash camera cleanly.
Speaking of cameras... no school bus mirror like the expedition:
I need to get the puddle lights set to be on when unlocked.
Luckily I have not broken the power tailgate yet, like I did when looking at the Expeditions.
I did change my dash to be a different color for each mode. This is a terrible dash picture:
I need to figure out where the add-on auto mirror gets it's power so I can power the dash camera cleanly.
Speaking of cameras... no school bus mirror like the expedition:
I need to get the puddle lights set to be on when unlocked.
Luckily I have not broken the power tailgate yet, like I did when looking at the Expeditions.
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2008
If anyone wants to geek out over minivans watch this video watch the video here but let me note that ours is not directly tested.
We got the non-hybrid 3.5l KIA with a physical shifter (not the dial). a lot of the negatives of the kia in the review are in the hybrid system. The 3.5 with conventional 8 speed auto is the cheapest minivan to purchase aside from maybe the 3.6l dodge. The steering on the KIA is right there with ROSS.
The 8 passenger Kia does have an easy to remove 2nd row (I weighed the seats at 60lbs each).
Cargo area is impressive:
We got the non-hybrid 3.5l KIA with a physical shifter (not the dial). a lot of the negatives of the kia in the review are in the hybrid system. The 3.5 with conventional 8 speed auto is the cheapest minivan to purchase aside from maybe the 3.6l dodge. The steering on the KIA is right there with ROSS.
The 8 passenger Kia does have an easy to remove 2nd row (I weighed the seats at 60lbs each).
Cargo area is impressive:
PeteL
If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement...
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- Joined
- Aug 3, 2003
Friend of mine bought a high-end motorcycle. When I emailed him to ask how he liked it, he responded, " Don't know yet, I'm still programming it..."
I can't understand where people get the time for all this BS. Doesn't anyone have useful work to do, in the real world?
I can't understand where people get the time for all this BS. Doesn't anyone have useful work to do, in the real world?
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- Joined
- Dec 22, 2002
I ran into this on a kia a couple weeks ago. I despised that vehicle. THe STUPIDEST feature on any car. there is no point to it. you still have to have your foot on the gas so your leg gets fatigued over a long drive and if you just put a brick on the pedal it will floor it and go full speed.
I can't stand the adaptive cruise on anything but at least you can switch to normal cruise on everything else I've driven.
And the lack of actual buttons on the kia's also irk's me...
Glad to see some of the manufactures keep both touchscreen and physical buttons.
as far as the original post about door locks. I guess if you have kids with full on squirrel mode that would be handy so they don't just whip the door open, but like 47v6 mentioned, there are allready interior door lock disablers on the doors. Just saves you a jump out the door and the wrath of other drivers horns in the school drop off line...
Really, Really need the emojies back for this alone